11 May 2014

Lines of lilacs

Today is the day we celebrate "la festa della mamma"——Mother's Day——in Italy, so I'd like to send a wish to all of the women who so beautifully mother & nurture others, including my own creative, inspiring & loving mother, and my daughter, who has inherited the same qualities.I also thought this would be a good chance to finally share an image of my lilac "story strips" from last spring (above, left & below). They were made from the Mother's Day lilacs my daughter had given me last year, which I wrote about in this post. Spring was all but over by the time I finally sorted through my photos of the rows of lilac buds/petals/clusters I had assembled, and it felt like the moment to post them had passed. Here are a few notes I had written at the time:

I wish I had created
pages & pages of lilac story strips, but that won't be possible for another nine
months or so. One thing is certain: lilacs do not overstay their
welcome!

I conducted an experiment of sorts, to
see if I could entice them into a lengthier visit by snipping the blooms from the woody stems and submerging them in a
sink full of water. Not only did the tender, wilted flowers perk up but, almost completely submerged in tallclear glasses of water, they lasted for another several days (image above, right). I was surprised to see that the lilac color began to
fade at one point, and eventually the tiny flowers became colorless (essentially white) before
shriveling to pale brown.

The flowers that dried right on their stalks, on the other hand, turned a
deep, almost-black purple, and have joined the tray of floral remnants
left from each month's flower explorations. I find I am equally
fascinated by what remains at the end of a flower's life as by the flower at its freshest.

And here's a glimpse of some of the Mother's Day treats I awoke to: a "bouquet" of chocolate-covered strawberries & blackberries, a pyramid of chocolate-mocha-pecan muffins, a heart-shaped cardboard Mother's Day card & a glass of fresh orange juice (enthusiastically drunk before I snapped the photo). My daughter also took the time to learn how to make coffee with my fun new espresso maker, which I will have to write about here one day——it's an objet d'art in its own right!).

6 comments:

Thank you, Sus. How nice that you were able to spend the day with your mother...unfortunately that doesn't seem to happen very often for me anymore, though we always have a belated Mother's/Father's Day roast at some point during the summer : )- Lisa

Our Mothers' Day has been and gone over a month ... but happy day to you. I saw with joy yesterday the lilac flowers on my neighbour's bush. In my mind, I could smell their heady scent even though I was cooped up in my car. I have the same feeling looking at your photos.

Thank you for your wishes, Margaret. I suppose in the UK lilacs are not synonymous with Mother's Day then (I imagine March would be too early for them). How wonderful that your neighbor has a lilac bush - their fragrance is absolutely delightful, isn't it? Enjoy!- Lisa

What a sweet daughter! My son (who is currently living with us), had to wait until after work to celebrate. But my husband and I did get to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. I spent the morning baking strawberry pies with them. Very fun!

Strawberry pies! - sounds AMAZING! What a nice way to spend the morning - and how lucky that you could have some time with your son later in the day.Here they don't seem to really do much for la festa della mamma, but this year my daughter invited some of her friends to make the chocolate-covered strawberries with her on Saturday, so there was lots of giggling (and licking of chocolate) going on - not to mention a few other delighted moms on Sunday!- Lisa

ARZIGOGOLARE is the second incarnation of my original blog, which I began after The Piazzas of Florence was published. As my focus shifted, the blog has evolved to include glimpses into everyday life in Florence + what's happening in my studio & kitchen.